Penn and Teller: Bullsh*t: Season 7

We live in an age where information is disseminated at a rate unimaginable to
people just a few short years ago. Couple this with the privilege of living in a
country with a written guarantee for the freedom of speech and the inevitable
result is there is a lot of half truths, misleading statements and outright lies
washing over our perception like a hurricane force wind. There is a pair of men
with a mandate to exposure such deception, as well as an extremely lucrative
contact with the Showtime cable network; Penn and Teller. While best known for
their long running stage act featuring magic and illusion this seemingly
mismatched pair of comedians have turned to providing a humor laden form of
social commentary. The platform they have used for the last seven seasons is a
late night series called ‘Bulls**t’. Well that was an attempt to keep this
review family friendly but you get the idea. Each episode this pair takes on a
different subject holding it up to their unique brand of satire. With this
approach individual appreciation of an episode will heavily depend on your
personal viewpoint of the subject. This is particularly applicable with the more
controversial themes especially those involved with religion. Overall each
episode is funny in an ‘MA-17’ sort of way. Since the series is part of the
original programming of a premium cable network there are ample opportunities
for nudity and overtly sexual content. You might think that after seven seasons
they would be running out of topics but there is apparently no shortage of
perceived nonsense out there so this series may still continue for years to
come. While this ways never a series that I would give a prized slot on my DVR
to it was a regular item for me with video on demand. It is well construct and
lives up to its controversial framework but has a tendency to be a touch uneven;
a byproduct of its format. Of course the other side of that is if you dislike
one episode the next is likely to wow you.

The duo hosting the series consists of slightly built ever silent Teller and
his more massively proportioned extremely verbal partner Penn Jillette. Teller
was born Raymond Joseph Teller but has legally shortened it to just his surname.
I have enjoyed their antics for years even before they began to pull the
mystical curtain back from the craft tricks of their fellow illusionists. It was
only a short, natural leap for them to broaden their scope encompassing just
about every conceivable facet of life. The format is done with a typical
documentary style with a number of topic specific ‘taking head’ experts although
some rapidly become the butt of many of the jokes for the topic. I have to
wonder just how they manage to convince people many with advanced degrees and
all passionate about their given topic to sign the legal releases to be shown on
this show, it has been around long enough for people to know what is going to
happen and even if they don’t know the history the name of the show should given
them a clue. Still episode after episode people line up to be ridiculed by the
former magicians.

Episodes:

Orgasms: The quest for bigger and better sexual release fuels a multimillion
dollar business. Penn and Teller look at sexual couches, seminars, and remote
controlled devices to show how many people are exploiting this human need.

Astrology: The belief that the time, date and place of your birth influence
and even direct your life. This episode includes a couple of non-scientific
tests to determine the accuracy of this pseudo science.

Violent Video Games: Many hold the trend of increasing first person violence
depicted in many popular video games as a primary cause of real violence
including school shootings. To help examine the possible link a nine year old
gamer was given an opportunity to fire a real assault rifle. This episode did
have a more somber nature to it largely because the debate has children caught
in between the opposing sides.

The Apocalypse: in particular the growing belief that the world will end on
December 21, 2012 according to various predictions including the Mayan calendar.
Along with the testimony of opposing factions represented by astrophysics post
docs there is someone certain it will happen because the aliens that took him on
their craft told him so.

Lie Detectors: This Episode examines whether it is possible to tell if a
person id telling the truth or lying. Methods ranging from sophisticated
bio-metric devices to the examination of body language and facial expressions.
There is also a look at how trusting a lie detector can ruin lives.

Organic Food: another popular trend involves locally grown, all organic food.
This episode features another of their semi scientific experiments with a head
to heads blind taste test of regular and organic foods.

Taxes: Ben Franklin noted that the only things certain in life are death and
taxes. This episode focuses on the overly complex United States tax code that
not even the experts can explain and no layman can begin to understand. Would a
flat tax work or is that just another myth?

Lawns: You might not think even this resourceful duo could find controversy
in a patch of grass but Penn and Teller did it. Some claim lawns help offset
ecological damage while in some communities the regulations pertaining to lawns
are so strict you could lose your home over them.

The Vatican: The season concludes with the most controversial and irreverent
episode of the batch as the pair take on the center of one of the worlds largest
and most powerfully influence religions. Among the themes considered are the
church’s views on condom use, homosexuality and premarital sex and how that
juxtaposed to the many church sex scandals.

This award winning series certainly does have its moment but it is definitely
not for anyone that is easily offended. Even if you feel the only BS being flung
is on their part they do manage to forward some fairly cognizant points. It has
to be remembered that their approach is very similar to Michael Moore in that
they want to put forth their opinion but do so in an entertaining fashion. They
occasionally offer an opposing view albeit one that they tend to ridicule but it
is never a mystery what side they fall on any given subject.